BBC Heir Hunters Scam

It’s important to understand that scammers often use the names of real people and real organizations in their messages, and this doesn’t mean those real people have anything to do with the scam. The scammers are just trying to make their frauds look legitimate by stealing the name of someone who is already known and respected. An example this week from the news in Great Britain: scammers are now sending messages that purport to come from the BBC television program Heir Hunters.

In this particular variation of the scam, an email claims that the recipient is being sought by the makers of Heir Hunters, a programme that follows the work of people who help members of the public claim their inheritance.

There are several tell-tale signs that the email is the work of scammers, though.

“I am writing you from Heir Hunters Company in the United kingdom , Heir Hunters probate detectives looking for distant relatives of people who have died without making a will, here is our websitepage on BBC TWO News [sic],” the email reads.

In addition to the poor punctuation and grammar, the message includes an email address that ends in @yahoo.com.hk.

“Why would the email address for a UK-based program be in Hong Kong?” asked Paul O Baccas of Sophos.

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Important Note

Please be aware that scammers often use the names of real people and legitimate businesses in their fraudulent messages. Why? To lend an air of legitimacy to their criminal enterprise. Just because the name of a real person or a real bank or a real government agency appears in a scam message that doesn't mean the person or organization in question is involved in the scam in any way. The scammers are just stealing these names in order to make themselves look legitimate.